Trillium. Xeikon Trillium: A Printing Technology Breakthrough. By: Cary Sherburne Sherburne & Associates August 21, 2013

Transcription

1 Xeikon Trillium: Trillium A Printing Technology Breakthrough By: Cary Sherburne Sherburne & Associates August 21, 2013 Offi ce: Mobile: Fax: Cary@SherburneAssociates.com

2 Xeikon Trillium: A Printing Technology Breakthrough By: Cary Sherburne Introduction At drupa 2012, Xeikon unveiled a technology demonstration of its breakthrough Trillium liquid toner digital printing technology. At the time, the demonstration was one station, black only, printing at 60 meters (200 feet) per minute at 1200 dpi, with a print width of 500 mm (19.7 inches). The company stated that the technology was expected to be productized by 2014, in four colors, with the potential to attain even higher speeds in future products. Since that time, Xeikon has maintained its projected schedule, and, in fact, plans to begin customer field tests in Europe in the first half of At the conclusion of an estimated four to six-month field test period, the first press using Trillium technology will undergo a phased launch, beginning in Europe and moving to other parts of the world over time. During 2014, customer field tests in North America are also expected to begin. This white paper details market positioning, including the market needs the technology addresses. It identifies target applications for early implementations of the technology. And it describes in detail how the technology works and why it is different from other digital printing technologies currently in the marketplace. Xeikon is one of the leading color toner press manufacturers in the world. It has a strong base in dry toner technology and now has made an investment in liquid toner technology, a technology that will help extend its customer base and in turn will help those to become even more efficient in printing very high-volume print applications. By acquiring a mature liquid toner technology, which was ready for integration into a press as early as 2010, Xeikon has accelerated the cycle time for bringing a Trillium-based press to market. The real breakthrough is having toner and engine development and manufacture under the same roof. Xeikon is now combining a competency in liquid toner with its existing competencies that have been developed over the last two decades, including front-end processing, imaging and the electro-mechanics of press operation, Xeikon is transforming this liquid toner technology into a viable digital press that has the potential to be a game-changer. Marco Boer - Vice President, IT Strategies. 2 - Sherburne & Associates 2013

3 Unmet Market Needs Xeikon is a digital printing veteran, having introduced the first full-color digital printing press more than two decades ago at Ipex Since that time, the company has continued to refine its dry toner, software and imaging technology across the board for document and packaging applications, including press mechanics and electronics, toner, the imaging and fusing process, and workflow and finishing solutions. There is still significant market value in dry toner solutions. However, the ability to take digital printing to a new level in terms of speed and cost adds another dimension to the digital printing ecosystem that has not previously existed in the marketplace. With dry toner products, there is a limit to how small the dry toner particles can be manufactured and still have the toner be functional and safe in a digital printing device. The optimal size for dry toner particles is in the 6 to 7-micron range. Any smaller than that, and they become too difficult to control during the imaging process, and potentially unsafe to handle as well. This can result in a wide range of issues, both internally and externally to the press. In addition, toner layers on substrate are typically about 5 microns per color, substantially thicker than conventional printing technologies such as offset, or higher end digital printing technologies such as production inkjet. These factors ultimately limit the speed and/or quality that can be achieved with dry toner systems. That being said, Xeikon dry toner products such as the Xeikon 8000 family continue to meet the needs of a broad application set and volume range. They deliver exceptional quality and throughput, at 1200 dpi and up to 19.2 meters (63 feet) per minute. Xeikon remains committed to continuing the development of its dry toner platforms and the workflow and services surrounding them, enhancing their functionality, usability and overall market appeal well into the foreseeable future. Yet as a digital printing visionary, Xeikon has continued its search for other technologies that could raise the bar in digital printing in terms of both higher speed and lower cost. Trillium liquid toner technology is one result of that research and development effort that is nearing commercialization. In 2010 Xeikon acquired the intellectual property rights to an existing liquid toner technology which had matured to a point that it was reasonable to believe it could be commercialized. Document Owner Challenges One of the key drivers of ongoing developments in, and adoption of, digital printing technologies is the evolving needs of buyers of print. Increasingly, print specifications are being created by document owners rather than procurement. And while procurement may still be involved in the buying decision, document owners are increasingly seeking four key elements that drive the selection of a print service provider and/or printing press technology and may even determine whether or not print is included in a given project. These are: Time to Market. Document owners, whether they are in the marketing department, producing transactional documents or publishing a catalog or magazine, want ever faster time to market. In a dynamic and highly competitive marketplace, time to market (or time to mailbox) is perhaps the most critical factor in customer communications and product delivery. Printed components must be produced quickly, and delivery times are often tied to strict service level agreements between the document owner and the service provider. Quality. While the definition of print quality has shifted over the years, document owners look for a level of quality that meets or exceeds their expectations. As a growing number of documents are being printed in full color, these demands are even more critical, especially as it relates to brand integrity and the overall tactile and visual experience the recipient will have. At higher speeds and volumes, production inkjet does a good job of serving a certain digital printing application set; however, there are quality limitations with respect to today s production inkjet implementations for higher production value applications, especially those with heavy ink coverage; we believe that Trillium technology will be able to address this higher quality application requirement. 3 - Sherburne & Associates 2013

4 Relevance. Document owners of all types are seeking to ensure that the materials they produce, whether printed or not, are relevant to recipients. It is only through increasing relevance that customer communications, whether marketing, educational, transactional or a combination, can move recipients to take desired actions and to keep the dialog going. This means producing a multitude of versions to address an ever narrowing array of recipients, even down to an audience of one. Adding this relevance through post-process inkjet is losing popularity because document owners prefer higher quality single-pass production of these pieces across all application types. Cost. Cost is always a consideration. But today s document owners are increasingly savvy about the true cost of the entire document life cycle. Cost per piece is not necessarily the driving factor it used to be. Document owners now take into consideration other aspects of their customer communications, marketing materials and publications, including time to market, response rates/roi, and reduction in the cost of inventory wastage and other process costs throughout the entire supply chain and document life cycle. Environmental Sustainability. A growing number of buyers of print also add environmental sustainability to the list of requirements. This includes such things as the use of recycled papers and/ or papers from managed-growth forests; the environmental impact of the printing technology itself, including chemicals, emissions and waste; energy consumption, including the cost of transportation; and the ability to recycle printed materials when they are no longer needed. All of these drivers, including environmental sustainability, push buyers of print in the direction of a fully digital workflow, including a digital printing process. Service Provider Challenges For service providers, these market demands create a different set of challenges. For continued success and profitability in the marketplace, service providers must maintain a state-of-the-art manufacturing platform from customer-facing web interfaces through efficient shipping and invoicing at the back end. They must embrace the principles of lean manufacturing and environmental sustainability. They must ensure the utmost in quality control and the fastest possible cycle time. And many rely on support from hardware and software manufacturer partners to provide them with the tools, technologies, tips and techniques that will ensure that they continue to grow in the most expeditious manner possible while making sure that current and emerging market needs are being met. Maintaining a state-of-the-art manufacturing platform has grown even more complex as more digital and conventional printing options have become available. Decisions involve much more than which press to purchase. Service providers must take into consideration the document owner needs outlined above and determine the best approach for their businesses in terms of addressing those needs. In order to make the right investment decisions, service providers and their document owner customers must have a good grasp of the existing technology landscape as well as some of the technologies on the horizon. These emerging technologies will be able to fill performance gaps created by the limitations of current products and technologies and are being offered by a variety of vendors. Filling these performance gaps only makes sense if it can be done profitably for the service provider, who in turn must be able to deliver cost-effective services that specifically address changing document owner needs. In addition, as service providers add new technology to the mix, they are often also looking for solutions that can be managed by an operator with a different type of profile than might have been required in the past. This is due to the continued transition from a craft industry to a manufacturing industry and the declining availability of highly skilled offset press operators. They are also looking for digital technologies that have fewer substrate limitations, higher quality and whose output can be recycled. 4 - Sherburne & Associates 2013

5 The Application Landscape: Filling the Gap As document owner needs have become more complex and service level demands have increased, Xeikon has identified a significant performance gap that cannot be effectively addressed by current technologies. That gap falls in the upper right quadrant of the figure below. Quality / Coverage Run Length This chart reflects how individual printing technologies are currently addressing a variety of documentoriented applications, and highlights where Trillium fits relative to existing technologies, as well as identifies the applications not currently addressed by digital printing in an effective manner. The vertical axis specifies the image coverage and quality the applications require, while the horizontal axis designates where sheet-fed versus roll-fed technologies play in terms of the volumes to be produced. When laid out in this manner, it becomes very clear that there is a segment of applications that is not being effectively addressed, resulting in a digital printing performance gap. These include: High-Volume Direct Marketing. These materials are typically mid- to high-quality with heavy ink coverage. They have strict color quality and consistency requirements, especially as it relates to brand colors. For those projects that require lower volumes, today s electrophotographic technologies, including the Xeikon 8000 family, are doing an excellent job of addressing their needs. For higher volume projects that require less quality, today s production inkjet may be the answer. And in the upper left quadrant, the needs for high speed and very high quality have historically been met by offset printing, with inkjet variable data imprinted as required either directly on the press or in the finishing process. Keeping in mind document owner requirements, this latter approach is falling out of favor for many direct marketing applications due to quality and time to market constraints as well as the lack of flexibility inherent in the offset process and a significant amount of process waste, both in time and materials. It is these high-volume, high quality, often personalized applications that Trillium technology targets and the application gap the technology is expected to fill. 5 - Sherburne & Associates 2013

6 Transactional Printing. Transactional printing is comprised of transactional documents such as bills, statements, invoices, explanations of benefits (EOBs), confirms, and other types of transactional documents that communicate account status and other information to existing customers. Historically, these were primarily produced in black & white on preprinted offset shells. Over time, most producers of these documents have migrated to a white-paper-in model and have begun using color with the growing installed base of production inkjet presses that allow cost-effective, high volume production of these documents. The next phase for high volume transactional printing is the ability to add marketing, educational or other messaging to these transactional documents, preferably in color, with high quality graphics, and based on the transactional information that is actually contained in the document or in customer databases. In many cases, this may even eliminate the need for some direct mailings. As more color and higher coverage are introduced, production inkjet quality is often not sufficient for the most appropriate portrayal of brand image. This is especially true for high-net-worth customers, whose transactional documents may include heavier ink coverage and demand a higher production value. In other cases, for example in the automotive industry, transactional statements may contain promotional images, such as the image of an automobile, and these images also demand a higher quality than is available today for variable production in high volumes. In addition, today s production inkjet presses are limited in the types of substrates that can be used, and inkjet optimized substrates can carry as much as a 50% cost premium over standard offset grades. Alternatively, a pre-coating or binding agent is applied on the press, which also adds to cost and cycle time. Inkjet prints can be difficult, if not impossible, to properly recycle. It should also be noted that as quality and throughput increase, marketers will be able to produce a broader range of customer communications that draw from transactional data for increased relevance but are not in and of themselves transactional documents. See catalogs and magazines below. Finally, many transactional and other customer communications documents are migrating to digital rather than printed formats. This shifts how print is being and will be used in the customer communications process. We believe that there will be a growing role for high volume, very high quality personalized and relevant communications that often will draw on transactional data. While this will likely apply to high value customers, over time, we believe it will migrate down the value chain to cover a wider range of customer communications. We believe that technologies such as Xeikon Trillium that can address the quality/cost/time dynamics these more complex communications require will find growing acceptance among marketers and the service providers that support them. Books. There are a number of forces that are driving book printing to a digital model. These include shorter runs, an increased number of versions, more self-publishers who are seeking an on-demand production model, and a focus by publishers on reducing waste in the supply chain. A growing number of book printers have adopted high-speed toner-based or production inkjet technology, with the bulk of these digital book blocks being produced in monochrome today. As publishers look for ways to both increase the amount of color within book blocks and raise the crossover point between offset and digital, there is a growing need for a higher quality digital printing solution that can handle larger volumes, longer runs transitioned from offset and while at the same time delivering improved quality on a wider range of substrates. Catalogs and Magazines. Magazine and catalog publishers are facing the same challenges as are book publishers, with one key difference: Magazines and catalogs have always had more color content, heavier ink coverage and higher quality demands. While these requirements can be handled effectively with digital toner-based presses for shorter run lengths, the cross-over point where a magazine or catalog would need to be moved to offset is still relatively low. In addition, publishers would like to be able to introduce more personalization and relevance to these publications, often based on transactional data they have with respect to individual customers. In some cases, this is being done with cover wraps that might reference a recent purchase; in others, inline inkjet is used either in the printing or finishing process. This results in a market gap that requires very high production speeds with equally high production values to migrate these applications to a digital production process. Trillium technology is designed to address this gap. Its ability to quickly produce high quality full color publications will also allow for increased digital printing of newer applications such as magalogs a combined magazine/catalog publication that are highly relevant to the individual, have the quality that brand owners demand, and take advantage of transactional and other data designed to motivate desired actions, promote specific products and more. Magalogs offer a combination of 6 - Sherburne & Associates 2013

7 educational or informational content and promotional content in a format that consumers are likely to find more attractive and useful than a magazine or catalog as a standalone publication. It is these market gaps which Xeikon s Trillium technology is ideally suited to fill. Based on what we have seen to date, we believe that technologies like Trillium will have a game-changing effect that will allow these markets to be further developed that existing printing technologies would allow. There is a sizeable gap today in the production digital color market between cut-sheet electrophotographic and continuous feed inkjet printing systems. To succeed in that space, systems need to have high-volume capability as well as attractive running costs at high coverage for applications like catalogs, direct mail, educational books, and magazines. Xeikon s Trillium leverages liquid electrophotography printing technology to get to the quality and productivity levels necessary to address this market gap. Jim Hamilton - Group Director, InfoTrends. The Trillium Difference Why is Trillium different than any other digital printing technology currently in the marketplace? This section provides an overview of the technology, while the following section delves more deeply into exactly how it works for those who wish to dive into more detail. Trillium advantages can be segmented into several categories. These include: Speed. Presses utilizing Trillium technology will be introduced to the market with a speed of 60 meters (200 feet) per minute. The technology is already producing speeds of 120 meters (400 feet) per minute in the lab, so it can be expected that future products will be available with increased speeds. This offers throughput in excess of that delivered by dry toner printing and is in the range of production inkjet speeds. Quality. Trillium s unique liquid toner process delivers a stunning level of quality that cannot be achieved by today s production inkjet solutions, especially with coated papers and high ink coverage. It is able to do so at speeds faster than full-color dry toner can achieve due to the high resolution of the imaging heads (1200 x 3600 dpi) and the small toner particle size of less than 2 microns. Throughput. While related to speed, throughput needs to be considered as an end-to-end metric when comparing printing technologies. This includes the prepress requirements, actual production time and finishing (which includes drying time). Trillium s liquid toner requires no drying time as compared to offset printing technology. There is also no press setup time, platemaking or other makeready measures that would be included in an offset printing job. Thus, users will be able to achieve offset-like quality but with faster throughput when the entire process is considered. When considering inkjet, the maintenance time and cost that is often required to clean or replace inkjet heads must also be taken into consideration. Trillium does not have these issues. Cost. With Trillium liquid toner imaging technology, unused toner and carrier fluid are recycled within the press for re-use. There are no inkjet heads to maintain or replace. And it does not require printing plates as in the offset printing process. These factors and others contribute to Trillium s highly competitive cost per copy metrics. With smaller toner particles and a thinner layer of toner, Trillium uses only about one-third of the toner particles that most dry toner systems would use to print an equivalent product, significantly reducing the amount of toner required. Trillium technology is suitable for higher volume, high quality static print that exceeds the cost metrics for dry toner printing and can deliver prints at a more economical cost per image than offset within the targeted volume ranges. 7 - Sherburne & Associates 2013

8 Dynamic Print. As with other digital printing technologies, Trillium supports dynamic variable data printing, which, of course, is not supported with offset printing. Digital Front End. Xeikon has been developing and improving its digital front end for more than two decades. This is an area of deep competency for the company, and the digital front end is a mature and proven product. When integrated into a Trillium-based press, the Trillium front end will support throughput at rated engine speeds, regardless of the complexity of the job. Ease of Operation. Many printing companies are seeking printing technologies that deliver the utmost in quality without the need for a journeyman press operator. This is due both to cost considerations and the declining availability of these skilled craftsmen in the marketplace. In addition, the ability to use a less skilled operator opens up more flexibility in terms of staffing the press, including the ability to cross-train multiple employees who may also be carrying out other duties. In addition, the skills required to operate a digital press, as opposed to an offset press, are more reflective of the skill sets available in today s digitally-oriented marketplace. Substrate Versatility. Because Trillium uses less heat to fuse the liquid toner to the substrate, it is able to handle a wider array of substrates than dry toner presses, In addition, the composition of the liquid toner and the way it adheres to the substrate, as well as its thinner film (described in more detail below) also enable use of stocks that might not be suitable for dry toner presses. As compared to production inkjet, the Trillium does not require the use of special optimized papers, pre-coating or binders. These papers and processes add cost to the overall job. In fact, some inkjet-optimized substrates can cost as much as 50% more than comparable offset papers. Environmental Sustainability. Trillium technology has several environmental benefits when compared to other printing technologies. These include: No VOC s or need for venting. The toner particles are suspended in a white oil carrier that emits no vapors. The unique Trillium imaging process results in the vast proportion of the carrier being recycled for reuse within the system. No noxious chemicals. There are no solvents or other noxious chemicals that are used in the manufacture of Trillium liquid toner or at the customer site. In fact, the carrier liquid used is a pharmaceutical grade oil. Less energy consumption. Trillium s LED imaging process uses less energy than laser imaging. Compared to production inkjet, because the liquid toner is not water-based, drying requirements are minimal and accomplished in the fusing process, whereas drying consumes a significant amount of energy with production inkjet printing technology. Less Waste. Compared to offset, Trillium liquid toner produces less waste. Makeready sheets are not required, and documents can be printed on demand, eliminating the cost and waste associated with printing large quantities to inventory. Deinkability. The Trillium liquid toner printing process was tested for deinkability by INGEDE during its early development phase and received a very good deinkability score. Other liquid toner technologies and inkjet can have issues in this regard. It should also be noted that while Xeikon has a significant level of knowledge and expertise in the development of digital front ends for its digital printing technology offerings over the last two decades, Trillium does present a new challenge for Xeikon. The DFE for a Trillium-enabled press will likely need to use different technology in order to cope with the added file size, speeds, bandwidth and volumes the press is designed to manage. In addition, we could expect to see a more open DFE that is able to easily integrate with third-party solutions such as print MIS or ERP systems. This would allow for more efficient management of jobs through a Trillium-enabled shop. 8 - Sherburne & Associates 2013

9 Trillium: A Deep Dive In its first iteration, Xeikon s Trillium-based press will be a roll-to-roll configuration that consists of two towers, each with four printing stations (CMYK). This enables duplex 4/4 printing (perfecting) with precise front-to-back registration as well as precise registration of each color separation. Future configurations could add additional towers (and additional colors) for a wider color gamut and potentially the introduction of special colors to more accurately address brand owner requirements. Trillium Imaging Process Trillium liquid toner is a high-viscosity toner that does not require evaporation of or fusing out of the carrier oil. This means there are no VOCs in the printing process nor is there any need to vent the press to the outside. In other words, it operates in a very clean environment. The Trillium imaging process consists of several highly-engineered and precise process steps as the image is created and the liquid toner for each color is applied to the substrate. Please note that a combination of conventional and digital imaging technologies have been incorporated to deliver optimum reliability quality and throughput. The image below depicts the roller configuration for each printing station, of which there will be eight in the initial Trillium-based press. A description of the function of each roller and the process by which the toner is ultimately transferred to the substrate follows. 9 - Sherburne & Associates 2013

10 Within each Trillium imaging station, there are four zones where toner and/or image are transferred. Each of the four rollers is seamless so there are no seams or repeats, staying true to Xeikon s principle of endless print. 1. From left to right, the first roller in the process is an anilox roller that picks up the liquid toner. This is an engraved roller type that is well-known in the conventional printing world for its ability to ensure even transfer of ink. 2. The next roller in the imaging configuration is the doctor roller. Trillium liquid toner is a dispersion of dry toner particles that are specially produced, downsized and shape modified to a small particle size in the 1,5- to 2-micron range, as opposed to typical dry toner milled in the 6- to 7-micron range. The dispersion is waterless and uses a pharmaceutical-grade white oil as a carrier liquid. 3. The next roller is where the digital part of the process commences. This is the photoconductor roller which includes the photo sensitive material that allows LED imaging to take place. The photoconductor roller is imaged at 1200x3600 dpi using LED imaging technology, a mature imaging technology Xeikon has been using for more than two decades. At each station, the respective separation is imaged onto the photoconductor roller. 4. New to Xeikon technology is an intermediate step where the image is transferred to the next roller, the intermediate roller. This would be similar to an offset printing blanket. The image is then electrostatically transferred to the substrate. Understanding these imaging steps in more depth is key to understanding why Xeikon Trillium liquid toner technology is so unique and groundbreaking in fact, why it is a game changer. Trillium liquid toner is comprised of a pharmaceutical-grade white oil carrier as mentioned above, and small toner particles shaped like small, flattened spheres with a thickness of less than a micron and a diameter of 1,5 to 2 microns. There is a 5 micron gap between each set of rollers, resulting in the base materials having near full contact with each other. The doctor roller, a charged rubber cylinder, picks up part of the toner layer being provided by the anilox roller. The non-transferred toner particles and carrier are recycled back to the inking station for reuse.back to the inking station for reuse Sherburne & Associates 2013

11 The next step is the charging of the toner particles, causing the toner layer to be compacted to the surface of the photoconductor roller. This realizes always a clear carrier liquid phase touching the photoconductor reducing all background toner transfer followed by the transfer from the doctor roller to the photoconductor. This is the critical step where the image is written to the photoconductor using LED imaging and toner particles are transferred to that part of the photoconductor where the image has been written. The toner present in the non developed parts of the doctor roller along with the carrier oil,are recycled. There is no fusing or evaporation of carrier oil into the atmosphere. The 5 micron gap, called microgapping, means that toner particles easily jump from one roller to the other with extreme precision and at a very high speed. Once toner has been applied to the latent image on the photoconductor, it is then transferred to the intermediate roller,. The intermediate roller is also a charged roller resulting in 100% of the imaged toner being transferred from the photoconductor to the intermediate roller, while extra carrier fluid remains with the photoconductorand is recycled. the toner is then transferred to the substrate which moves to the next station where the process is repeated for the next color. This process results in a very thin layer of liquid toner being applied to the substrate. Typically, four layers of current dry toner technology result in an approximate thickness of 20 microns; with Trillium technology, the four-layer thickness is about 4-6 microns. This implies a need to use much less material to achieve the required image quality, which in turn implies less cost. In fact, the process uses at least about one-third less toner than traditional dry toner electrophotographic processes. This also enables a thinner final colorant film on the substrate, which has an image quality advantage through a physically flatter refractive response to light Sherburne & Associates 2013

12 The image below depicts the toner particles being applied to the substrate (which is not to scale) and the extra carrier fluid staying with the intermediate roller dependent upon the absorbing behavior of the paper substrate This nearly full-contact printing approach is a key to the accuracy of the technology and is not found in most other digital printing processes. It is arguably the most accurate transfer of an image to substrate aside from traditional offset printing. This is important for both the quality and the speed of the printing process. Fusing Process The low-energy fusing process for the Trillium-based press is a full-contact duplex fusing system located at the end of the press with a prefix station after the each tower. Fusing uses both heat and pressure to stabilize the image. Substrates The initial press will support a wide range of paper substrates. The primary focus of this first press will be document printing, and document-type substrates are being tested and certified as part of the pre-launch process. Deinkability Deinkability is at least at the same good level as current dry toner Xeikon presses. Deinkability was a design specification for the technology. Compact Footprint The initial press using Trillium liquid toner technology will have a very compact footprint. Its roll-to-roll length is 11 meters (30 feet) with a width of 5 meters (16 feet). Print width will be around 500 mm (19.7 inches). In lie with Xeikon philosophy, printing length is virtually endless with no seams or repeats. Targeted Monthly Volume Ideal candidates for the initial Trillium-enabled press from Xeikon will be producing a minimum workload of 5 million A3 prints per month. The duty cycle for the initial Trillium-based press is projected to be roughly three times that of the Xeikon 8000 family of presses, or 15 million A3 prints per month Sherburne & Associates 2013

13 Looking Ahead Trillium technology will be commercialized in 2014, beginning with Europe and, in a phased launch approach, being deployed next to North America and then to the rest of the world. This schedule assumes that field tests go according to plan, which they are expected to do. The Xeikon Trillium liquid toner technology is very exciting. It has the potential to bring increased sheet widths and speeds to digital print at a cost point that falls between production EP and inkjet. David Zwang - Zwang and Company. In the interim, interested parties will be able to view print samples, and ultimately have the potential of visiting Xeikon labs and/or beta/installed customer sites. Xeikon is also aggressively testing customer files and substrates to ensure the breadth and depth of the final product and its ability to meet the market demands for which it is designed. It is expected that early customers will be companies that have already implemented digital printing, but are looking for a way to move up the price/performance spectrum and/or migrate volumes from offset and production inkjet. It is envisioned that as the product matures in the marketplace, there will be a number of commercial printers who will choose this technology as their first foray into digital printing Sherburne & Associates 2013

14 About Cary Sherburne Cary Sherburne is a well-known author, journalist and marketing consultant whose practice is focused on marketing communications strategies for the printing and publishing industries. She was recognized as a 2009 Woman of Distinction by Output Links and was awarded the 2009 Thomas McMillan Award for excellence in journalism. Sherburne has written six books, including Digital Paths to Profit, published by NAPL; and most recently, No-Nonsense Innovation: Practical Strategies for Success, written with Bill Lowe, the Father of the IBM PC and available on Amazon. She has also ghost-written several books for busy executives, for whom she makes the process simple and efficient. Sherburne has served in a number of management and executive roles at companies that include Xerox, Indigo (now HP Indigo), Bitstream (Pageflex) and InfoTrends. More recently, she was Vice President of Marketing Communications at IKON Office Solutions (now Ricoh). Since launching her private practice in 2002, and during her time with InfoTrends, Sherburne has managed and/or participated in a wide range of research and consulting engagements, providing both qualitative and quantitative studies that include business process assessments, market analyses, due diligence for investors, new business assessments, development of sales process and sales training materials, development of product launch packages, and strategic alignment of product portfolios. Sherburne is also a key contributor of news and analysis pieces for WhatTheyThink, the leading online news and analysis resource for the printing and publishing industry. In addition to her role as Senior Editor at WhatTheyThink, which includes both written and video content, Sherburne occasionally writes for other printing trade magazines, as well as creating by-lined editorial and other content for clients. For more information visit Office: Mobile: Fax: Cary@SherburneAssociates.com 14 - Sherburne & Associates 2013